Holes Found Carved in Ancient Rock Shelter in Azerbaijan Belong to One of World’s Oldest Games

A major discovery has just been made in Gobustan, Azerbaijan – a rock carving of a game board that is believed to be one of the oldest that has ever been found. Dating back around 4000 years, the game is an early form of ‘Hounds and Jackals’, which was popular among the ancient Egyptians. The region in which it was found was once populated by ancient cattle herding people, revealing one of the ways in which nomadic hunters entertained themselves millennia ago.

Ancient Entertainment

According to Live Science, the discovery was made by Dr William Crist, an American scholar who works at the American Museum of Natural History. He was browsing through a series of photographs in a magazine with pictographs from Gobustan and had a Eureka moment when he instantly recognized that one of the images was of a board game. He was so excited that he caught a plane the next day and flew straight to the Azeri capital, Baku.

The American expert had identified the pictograph as an example of a board game that was known as ‘Hounds and Jackals’ (also called 58 Holes). This game had two central rows surrounded by 50 holes. It is believed that the aim of the game was to start at one point on the board and reach with all figures to another point on the board.